Feature Articles

•

MARC is Coming to Delaware (p. 1)

•

District of Columbia (DC) Commuter

Benefits Ordinance (p. 2)

•

Papal Proponent of Public Transportation

(p. 3)

ACT’s monthly meetings are held at the

ACT’s monthly meetings are held at the ACT’s monthly meetings are held at the

ACT’s monthly meetings are held at the Silver Spring

Silver Spring Silver Spring

Silver Spring

Civic Building,

Civic Building,Civic Building,

Civic Building, One Veterans Place 20910, in the

One Veterans Place 20910, in the One Veterans Place 20910, in the

One Veterans Place 20910, in the

Ellsworth Room at 7:30 PM, the second Tuesday of

Ellsworth Room at 7:30 PM, the second Tuesday of Ellsworth Room at 7:30 PM, the second Tuesday of

Ellsworth Room at 7:30 PM, the second Tuesday of

each month.

each month.each month.

each month.

The Silver Spring Civic Building is located at the

The Silver Spring Civic Building is located at the The Silver Spring Civic Building is located at the

The Silver Spring Civic Building is located at the

corner of Fenton St & Ellsworth Dr.

corner of Fenton St & Ellsworth Dr.corner of Fenton St & Ellsworth Dr.

corner of Fenton St & Ellsworth Dr.

It is an eight

It is an eight It is an eight

It is an eight

minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro

minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro

minute walk north from the Silver Spring Metro

Station.

Station.Station.

Station.

The nearest bus routes are:

The nearest bus routes are: The nearest bus routes are:

The nearest bus routes are: Ride

RideRide

Ride-

-On

OnOn

On routes

routes routes

routes

#9, #12, #15, #16, #17, #19 and #20; and,

#9, #12, #15, #16, #17, #19 and #20; and, #9, #12, #15, #16, #17, #19 and #20; and,

#9, #12, #15, #16, #17, #19 and #20; and, Metrobus

MetrobusMetrobus

Metrobus

routes Z6 and Z8.

routes Z6 and Z8.routes Z6 and Z8.

routes Z6 and Z8.

Parking is available at the

Parking is available at the Parking is available at the

Parking is available at the Town Square Garage

Town Square GarageTown Square Garage

Town Square Garage just

just just

just

across Ellsworth Dr from the Civic Building; it is free

across Ellsworth Dr from the Civic Building; it is free across Ellsworth Dr from the Civic Building; it is free

across Ellsworth Dr from the Civic Building; it is free

after 6:00pm.

after 6:00pm.after 6:00pm.

after 6:00pm.

For

ForFor

For meeting updates check our website listed on pg

meeting updates check our website listed on pg meeting updates check our website listed on pg

meeting updates check our website listed on pg 2.

2. 2.

Jan 12:

Jan 12: Jan 12:

Jan 12: Annual Meeting & Election of ACT Officers

Annual Meeting & Election of ACT Officers Annual Meeting & Election of ACT Officers

Annual Meeting & Election of ACT Officers -

see p. 8 for nominations

see p. 8 for nominations see p. 8 for nominations

see p. 8 for nominations -

- Come & Vote;

Come & Vote; Come & Vote;

Come & Vote;

Speaker: Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s new

Speaker: Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s new Speaker: Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s new

Speaker: Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s new

General Manager, questions & answers

General Manager, questions & answersGeneral Manager, questions & answers

General Manager, questions & answers

Feb 9:

Feb 9: Feb 9:

Feb 9: Candidate Forum on Transportation, District 8

Candidate Forum on Transportation, District 8 Candidate Forum on Transportation, District 8

Candidate Forum on Transportation, District 8

Republican congressional primary candidates

Republican congressional primary candidatesRepublican congressional primary candidates

Republican congressional primary candidates

March 8: Speaker TBD

March 8: Speaker TBDMarch 8: Speaker TBD

March 8: Speaker TBD

In Case of Inclement Weather

In Case of Inclement Weather In Case of Inclement Weather

In Case of Inclement Weather -

if the Silver Spring

Civic Building is closed, the meeting is canceled. A

notice will be posted on the ACT

website, ACT

Facebook page and ACT Twitter account, if this is the

case. Please check before going to the meeting, if

the weather is questionable.

Transit Times

The Newsletter of the Action Committee for Transit of Montgomery County, Maryland

Volume 30, Number 1, January 2016

MARC is Coming to Delaware

Quon Kwan

Delaware Authority for Regional Transit

(DART) and Maryland Transit Administration (MTA)

transit officials are conferring on the possible

extension of Maryland Area Rail Commuter

(MARC) from Perryville, MD to Wilmington, DE.

They indicated the service could start as early as

2018, after reconstructing the Newark, DE train

station, 20 miles north of Perryville.

That project, which will increase train

capacity at the station, will also allow additional

South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority

(SEPTA) trains to go to Newark from Philadelphia.

The project will add one more track there and will

begin next year under a $10 million Federal grant.

The Newark, DE station also serves Amtrak.

Undecided is whether to run a commuter

rail service from Philadelphia to Baltimore,

Wilmington to Baltimore, or Newark to Baltimore.

DART will have to analyze the different costs.

•

Birth of Modern Graphics and Typography

for Public Transit (p. 4)

•

Office Parks Are Declining in Montgomery

County: Is Lack of Rail Connectivity a

Factor? (p. 6)

•

Stop Building New Roads Until Old Ones

Are Safe (p. 7)

•

ACT in Thanksgiving Parade (p. 8)

It’s Time to Renew Your

Membership or Join ACT Now

You can join ACT by remitting

membership dues. Your membership

dues are based on the category of

membership that you choose:

$10 [rider

(code R on mail label)

]

$25 [activist

(code A on mail label)

]

$50 [conductor

(code C on mail label)

]

$100 [engineer

(code E on mail label)

]

[the two digits after your category of

membership code indicates year paid]

You can join/renew online at our

website, or send your check for the

chosen category of membership to:

Action Committee for Transit

P.O. Box 7074

Silver Spring, MD 20907

www.actfortransit.org

www.twitter.com/actfortransit

www.facebook.com/actfortransit

You may also give your membership

dues to Treasurer Dave Anderson at

the next ACT meeting. The address on

your check will be used as the mailing

address unless otherwise indicated.

Your dues support ACT Activities and

this newsletter.

DART already pays SEPTA about $250,000

annually for each daily round-trip train between

Philadelphia and Delaware. DART has a priority to

bring MARC trains to Delaware.

The only section of the Northeast corridor

without commuter rail is the segment from

Perryville to Newark because the demand has not

been there. Nonetheless, that market is growing

as shown by a fair number of Delaware license

plates in Perryville taking MARC. In addition,

commuting on the MARC system to jobs in

Aberdeen, MD has seen an increase.

District of Columbia (DC) Commuter

Benefits Ordinance

Quon Kwan

The DC Transit Ordinance, DC Law 20-

142, is a transit benefit ordinance requiring

employers with 20 or more employees in

Washington, DC to offer pre-tax transit benefits.

Mayor Gray signed the law on July 29, 2014, and

it became effective after Congressional review on

December 17, 2014. The Ordinance encourages

the use of public transportation to reduce use of

single occupancy vehicles. As of January 1,

2016, DC employers with more than 20

employees are required to provide one of three

commuter benefit options, all of which are outlined

below:

Benefit Option #1: Employee-Paid Pre-Tax

Benefit: Commuter benefits in the form of

employee-paid pre-tax deductions are federally

approved employer-provided incentives for

employees to reduce their monthly commuting

expenses for transit, vanpool and parking.

Employees may set aside $130/month in pre-tax

funds through their paycheck for their transit or

vanpool costs or $250/month for parking costs,

consistent with Internal Revenue Code §132(f) By

doing so, taxable income is reduced, which result

in a travel savings of up to 40%. Consequently,

business payroll taxes decrease, so an employer

may see up to 9% savings for each employee

participating in the benefit.

Benefit Option #2: Employer-Paid Direct

Benefits: Commuter benefits in the form of an

employer-paid subsidy are federally approved

employer-provided incentives for employees to

reduce their monthly commuting costs for transit,

vanpool, biking and parking.

Through this option, an employer can

subsidize employee transit, vanpool and bike

commuting costs. As with the employee-paid

benefit, an employer does not pay payroll taxes

and employees do not pay federal or payroll taxes

on the benefit amount. Internal Revenue Code

§132(f) allows employers to offer employees up to

$130/month for transit or vanpool; or $20/month

for bicycling benefits.

Benefit Option #3: Employer-Provided

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

Transportation Service: Employer-provided

transportation service can include vanpools from

outside of DC limits or shuttles from Metro

stations, Park-and-Rides, major hubs or

anywhere else employees are commuting.

Papal Proponent of Public

Transportation

Quon Kwan

Pope Francis, who visited Washington,

DC on September 22-24, 2015, is a proponent of

public transportation. He is known for placing

notes on the windshields of luxury cars parked at

the Vatican lot asking the car owners to reflect on

a better alternative to driving such a car. While a

cardinal in Buenos Aires, he regularly rode the

subways and buses. His second encyclical

alludes to public transportation for improving both

the environment and the quality of life. It was

published on June 18, 2015.

A Papal encyclical (meaning circulating

letter in Latin) establishes Catholic doctrine on

significant issues and is second in importance

only to the highest ranking document issued by

Popes (an Apostolic Constitution). Pope Francis

considered the topic of environment and human

ecology important enough to warrant a 184-page

encyclical. This encyclical called Laudato Si is

the second issued by Pope Francis. His first

encyclical was Lumen fidei ("Light of Faith")

issued in 2013, but Lumen fidei was largely the

work of Pope Francis's predecessor, Benedict

XVI. Hence, Laudato Si is viewed as the first

encyclical entirely to be Pope Francis's.

The Laudato Si's release was timed to

influence three summits held at the United

Nations on financial aid, sustainable development

and climate change. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis

critiques consumerism and irresponsible

development, laments environmental degradation

and global warming, and calls for swift, unified

action. The two occurrences where he mentions

public transportation in the Laudato Si are

identified below:

The first occurrence is in Chapter I, “What is

Happening to Our Common Home,” Section VI,

“Weak Responses,” Paragraph 58: In some

countries, there are positive examples of

environmental improvement: rivers, polluted for

decades, have been cleaned up; native woodlands

have been restored; landscapes have been

beautified thanks to environmental renewal projects;

beautiful buildings have been erected; advances

have been made in the production of non-polluting

energy and in the improvement of public

transportation. These achievements do not solve

global problems, but they do show that men and

women are still capable of intervening positively. For

all our limitations, gestures of generosity, solidarity

and care cannot but well up within us, since we were

made for love.

The second occurrence of public

transportation is in Chapter IV, “Integral Ecology,”

Section III, “Ecology of Daily Life,” Paragraph 153:

The quality of life in cities has much to do with

systems of transport, which are often a source of

much suffering for those who use them. Many cars,

used by one or more people, circulate in cities,

causing traffic congestion, raising the level of

pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of

non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to

build more roads and parking areas which spoil the

urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the

need to give priority to public transportation. Yet

some measures needed will not prove easily

acceptable to society unless substantial

improvements are made in the systems themselves,

which in many cities force people to put up with

undignified conditions due to crowding,

inconvenience, infrequent service and lack of safety.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

Thank You, Neil Greene

Anyone who has attended an ACT meeting in

recent years may be familiar with the ACT

NewsClipper that was part of the monthly meeting

Agenda. For several years ACT member Neil Greene

has been putting together the NewsClipper by

compiling all the recent transit-related articles into this

one document. Neil is retiring from this service to

ACT. We appreciate the time and hard work Neil put

into this wonderful resource. Thank you, Neil.

Birth of Modern Graphics and

Typography for Public Transit

Quon Kwan

This article was prompted by the February

publication of the book, Helvetica / Objectified /

Urbanized: The Complete Interviews by Gary

Hustwin. Gary Hustwin is an independent

filmmaker and photographer; his films include

Moog (a documentary about the electronic music

pioneer Robert Moog) and the film trilogy:

Helvetica, Objectified, and Urbanized. Helvetica

(a documentary about graphic design and

typography), Objectified (a documentary about

industrial design and product design), and

Urbanized (a documentary about the design of

cities). One of the interviews in his book is of the

legendary graphics designer, Massimo Vignelli.

Massimo Vignelli, who passed away in May

2014, is the person famous for designing the

simplified New York City subway map in 1972.

The belief that Helvetica font has always

been the font used by New York City Transit, and

thereafter, by most contemporary public transit is

a canard. The story is a tortuous one and has

been described in Peter Shaw’s book, Helvetica

and the New York City Subway System The True

(Maybe) Story. MIT Press re-published this

book in 2011. Peter Shaw is an award-winning

graphics designer who teaches at the Parsons

School of Design in New York City. Shaw’s book

was awarded a Certificate of Typographic

Excellence by the Type Directors Club and

included in its 56th Awards Exhibition. The front

image (see picture at end of article) is derived

from p.45 from the 1970 New York City Transit

Authority (NYCT) Graphics Standards Manual

Hustwin’s interview with Vignelli reveals

that Vignelli became involved when in 1966, New

York City Transit (NYCT) sought to bring order

out of chaos. New York’s subway was born out

of the merger of three separate subway

companies and each had their own signs. Some

of the signs were mosaics in tile and others were

hand painted; no standards existed. In 1967,

new signs were installed, but the old ones were

left up. Then NYCT added still more signs, hastily

made by hand in an attempt to address the

resulting chaos. Typical of the confusion was the

fact that the sign-makers misread the blueprints.

Not understanding that a black horizontal bracket

was meant to secure the signs from above, they

painted a black stripe along the top of each sign.

Vignelli called the confusion, “the biggest mess in

the world." The Daily News called New York’s

subway system, the "Flubway,"

To address this issue, NYCT went to the

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City

and asked if they could suggest who would be

the best designer to create a standard design for

subway signage. MoMA told NYCT that they

were very lucky because Vignelli just arrived from

Milan, Italy to settle in New York City. NYCT

commissioned Vignelli’s company, Unimark

International. Vignelli and Bob Noorda of

Unimark had just designed the graphics for the

Metropolitana Milanese (Milan’s transit system).

NYCT asked Unimark International to first

study the four most convoluted subway stations

(Times Square, Grand Central Broadway-

Nassau, and one in Queens) to determine the

flow of foot traffic, and hence, the most strategic

places for signs. Vignelli remarked that the

number one rule in signage is: give information

at the point of decision – never before or after.

This rule also helps eliminate redundancies and

contradictions.

Vignelli’s second major step was

choosing a consistent typeface for all the NYCT

signs in these stations and minimizing the

number of type sizes. The original plan was to

make these signs in Helvetica. Helvetica is a

sans serif typeface, similar to Arial used to print

this newsletter. He chose Helvetica because it

was (i) neutral (it is named after the Latin

adjective for Switzerland, its birthplace) and (ii)

clean, crisp, and modern-looking. It was the

same typeface Vignelli used for the Metropolitana

Milanese. Vignelli would soon deploy Helvetica

for everyone else from Knoll Furniture to J.C.

Penney.

NYCT’s Bergen St. sign shop, however,

did not have the then-exotic, now-ubiquitous

Helvetica at hand. They countered with the

prosaically named Standard Medium (i.e.,

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

Akzidenz Grotesk) — like Helvetica, a sans-serif

font, but less refined, based as it was on older

19th-century models.

Next, Unimark was brought back to plan a

system-wide implementation. Helvetica typefont

was restored. However, the biggest innovation

was standardization of the supports for the signs

throughout the 485 stations in the NYCT subway

system. Vignelli notes that prior to

standardization, the signs were made according

to the amount of space available in each

instance, that is, they were customized. Vignelli

came up with three categories of signage, each

of which had its own appropriate size, which

happened to be twice the size of the previous

one. Vignelli’s Helvetica typeface and sign

standardization has remained in place. The only

major difference is that the NYCT subway signs

changed from the original of black lettering on

white background to white lettering on black (or

colored) background during the graffiti explosion

(see picture at end of article). Unimark’s

significant contribution resulted in the 1970 NYCT

Graphics Standards Manual.

NYCT then asked Vignelli to design a

map for the subway system. Inspired by the

London subway map, he came up with a similar

simplified map in 1972: each subway line is

represented by a colored line and each station is

represented by black dots on the colored lines.

The map uses Helvetica typeface matching the

signs posted throughout the subway system. In

the interview with Hustwin, Vignelli confesses his

mistake – namely of indicating the boroughs of

New York City on the map. If he had to do the

map over again, he would not have indicated any

geography (ocean, rivers, islands), just like the

London subway map. Otherwise, he thinks the

subway map he originally designed is perfect.

The present-day New York City subway

map is totally different from Vignelli’s original

map: Vignelli notes that it is cluttered with too

much information, which makes it hard to retrieve

any information. Vignelli remarked that about

half the people are visually-oriented and half are

verbally-oriented. Because the visually-oriented

are satisfied and not verbally-oriented, they do

not make their satisfaction known. The verbally-

oriented claimed that Vignelli’s map was

oversimplified and made their dissatisfaction

verbally known so they had Vignelli’s subway

map changed to what it is today (the change was

finalized in 1979).

There are three take-aways from the

book:

(1) Signage (station names, directions, safety,

and regulatory) is best located at decision

points – not before or after,

(2) Good, clean, and clear design is a constant

fight against bad design, and

(3) Good typography is being sensitive to

spacing between the letters just like music is

not about the notes but the spacing between

the notes.

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

Correction to “Status of Purple

Line”

Quon Kwan

In the previous issue of

Transit Times, the

first sentence of the last paragraph indicated that

“$900” was anticipated from the Federal government.

This amount should be $900 million.

Office Parks Are Declining in

Montgomery County: Is Lack of Rail

Connectivity a Factor?

Quon Kwan

On June 18, the Washington, DC-based

Partners for Economic Solutions published a

report, “Office Market Assessment,” sponsored by

the Montgomery County Planning Department of

the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning

Commission. The report examines the forces

behind the decline in the market for office space

in Montgomery County in the context of the

overall Washington, DC metropolitan area.

At this time a total of 71.5 million ft

office space is vacant throughout the Washington,

DC region. Fairfax County has the highest share

(28%), and the District of Columbia has the

second highest share (22%). Montgomery

County accounts for the third highest (15% or

nearly 11 million ft

) of the regional office

vacancies. In the County are 12 office buildings,

totaling 2.1 million ft

that are completely vacant

with 8 more buildings totaling 1.2 million ft

becoming vacant this year. There are another 30

office buildings with at least 100,000 ft

vacant.

All of these buildings are located in office parks or

independent campuses. Seven relatively smaller

office buildings totaling 400,000 ft

are now under

construction in the County.

High vacancies threaten the financial

viability of individual buildings; they pressure

landlords to lower rents or increase concessions

in order to lure tenants, undercutting cash flow,

and market values. They also depress the

property tax base. Projected occupancy rates do

not hint at any near-term relief. Relief must come

from increased office-based employment,

increased office building demolitions or

conversions (including re-zoning) to other uses in

order to make a dent in the County’s inventory of

vacant office space. Office-based employment

would have to rise by 21,900 jobs, which is equal

to 8% of all the jobs in office-based employment

and more than seven times the total number of

jobs created in the County between 2004 and

2013. The report finds five key underlying factors

for high vacancies in office buildings:

(1) Most jobs created during the period between

2004 and 2014 have been in the low-wage

service sector (e.g., restaurants, retailers, and

health care) rather than office-based sectors

(e.g., professional and technical services)

according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

data for the Washington, DC metropolitan

area. The same data showed Federal

government employment is down by 1.8%, as

expected from budget cutbacks in 2011.

(2) Telecommuting and more efficient work

spaces have enabled tenants to reduce their

demand for office space even as they expand

their workforce. Office space per worker fell

from the historic average of 250 ft

to 180 ft

Tenants use “hoteling” to move workers from

assigned, permanent desks to temporary

desks and roll over portable cabinets with

their files and materials. The General Services

Administration’s (GSA) Freeze the Footprint

initiative is moving Federal employees from

privately-leased to government-owned space,

which could eliminate 1.1 million ft

of private

office leases by 2017.

(3) Development of office buildings and office

parks is on the decline and will be

concentrated in prime locations. In the

competition for technology and other highly-

valued workers, office style and location are

becoming an important factor with millennials

preferring urban, walkable locations. Long

work hours place a premium on shorter

commutes.

(4) Mixed-use office developments with a strong

sense of place and a quality environment with

transit connectivity are the most successful in

the County. Examples include Bethesda,

Silver Spring, and Rockville. Measures of

success include low vacancy rates and high

average rents. Bethesda/Chevy Chase has a

9.3% vacancy rate, the second lowest in the

County, and average rent of $37.46/ft

, the

highest rate in the County. Silver Spring has

a 11.4% vacancy rate and average rent of

$27.62/ft

. Rockville has a 12.2% vacancy

rate and average rent of $28.61/ft

. Of the

County’s office space inventory, 30% lies in

mixed-use areas, of which 63% is within ¼

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

mile of a Metrorail station and another 28% is

within ¼ to ½ mile of a Metrorail station.

Furthermore, vacancies in mixed-use office

developments saw a 5% decrease between

1994 and 2014.

(5) Single-use office parks without convenient

transit access are having difficulty attracting

tenants, as exemplified by the I-270 North

Corridor with an 83.1% vacancy rate (highest

in the County) and average rent of $22.97/ft

(lowest in the County). Single-use office

parks represent 37% of the overall office space

inventory of which over 97% is situated more

than ½ mile from a Metrorail station.

Furthermore, vacancies in single-use office

parks saw a 10% increase between 1994 and

2004.

The report concludes that single-use office

parks with Metrorail access more than ½ mile

away are being by-passed in favor of mixed-use

office developments with Metrorail access less

than ½ mile away. Plentiful free parking is no

longer a sufficient lure. Mixed-use office

developments with Metrorail access which use

public space, public art, and other amenities to

attract people and encourage walking are the most

competitive office locations. Lastly, transit

connectivity is, indubitably, growing increasingly

important in the development and marketing of

office space.

Stop Building New Roads Until Old

Ones Are Safe

ACT Press Release of November 4, 2015

A joint letter was sent to Maryland

Secretary of Transportation, Peter Rahn signed

by: Action Committee for Transit, Central

Maryland Transportation Alliance, Citizens

Planning & Housing Association, 1000 Friends of

Maryland, Prince George's Advocates for

Community-Based Transit, and Transportation for

Maryland:

We are deeply concerned about the recent

epidemic of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on

Maryland's highways. Our highways are not

designed for safe cycling and walking, and the

toleration of these dangers by state and local

agencies over many years demonstrates a lack of

proper safety culture. We call on you to direct the

State Highway Administration to devote all its

energies to remedying these unsafe conditions

and halt construction of new and expanded

highways until they are fixed.

Within just the last two weeks, pedestrians

have been killed at three patently unsafe locations

on Maryland highways:

• One-year-old Jeremiah Perry, in a stroller

waiting for a bus, was killed in Baltimore Sunday

night.

• 95-year-old Marge Wydro was killed on October

21 crossing MD 190 in Bethesda, a pedestrian-

hostile road with a 45 mph speed limit.

• On the same day Michelle Hoyah, 18, was killed

by a southbound driver on US 29 at Oak Leaf

Drive.

Although excessive speed and driver error

played a part in each of these deaths, an absence

of concern for pedestrian safety in the design of

the sidewalks and the roadways makes these

locations unsafe. The highway safety culture itself

needs to be upgraded to protect pedestrians and

bicyclists without discouraging walking and

cycling. Until that safety culture is put in place, we

should not continue the construction of dangerous

highways.

[See the full letter to Secretary Rahn on the ACT

website, www.actfortransit.org.]

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

In Memoriam, Lynn Rosenbusch

We are sadden at the recent death of ACT

member Lynn Rosenbusch. Lynn and her

husband, John Fauerby, were both killed on

October 31 when the tandem bike they were

riding was struck from behind by a drunk driver

in Calvert County. Lynn, a cycling activist,

joined ACT in 1999 and was a past volunteer.

Our sincerest condolences go to her family and

friends.

Editorial Remarks

Your Transit Times editor is Quon Kwan.

Cutoff date for receiving materials for the next

publication is March 8. Send your materials to

Quon at: qykwan@gmail.com or call him at:

(h) 301-460-7454.

ACT 2016 Nominations Report

The ACT Nominations Committee reports the

following have accepted:

President: Ronit Dancis

V. Pres

(legislative)

: Jim Clarke

V. Pres

(social media)

: Sean Emerson

V. Pres

(land use & housing shortage)

: Dan Reed

Secretary: Vaughn Stewart

Treasurer: Nick Brand

Board Member (MARC): Ben Shnider

Board Member: Jennifer Hosey

Non-Voting ex officio board members:

Ralph Bennett: Purple Line Now!

Ben Ross: Programs

Miriam Schoenbaum: Upcounty

Please come to the January 12 meeting prepared

to vote on the candidates.

Transit Times

Action Committee for Transit, Inc.

P.O. Box 7074

Silver Spring, MD 20907

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Transit Times, vol. 30, no. 1, January 2016

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

SILVER SPRING, MD

PERMIT # 1931

ACT in Thanksgiving Parade

Kathy Jentz

On Saturday, November 21, ACT was once

again a unit in the Montgomery County

Thanksgiving Day Parade. ACT Board, members,

and staff were joined by various supporters and

also by friends from Purple Line Now! for a total of

26 participants. Bee Ditzler created a new fabric

Purple Line train costume that fit six parade

marchers and was a big hit with the parade’s

viewing crowds. Immediately after the parade, the

group staged a photo op at the Silver Spring

Library underpass on the future Purple Line tracks.